Detective justified in killing man he believed armed, D.A. says

May 19, 2014

Updated May 20, 2014 12:03 p.m.

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Investigators work a shooting scene in Santa Ana on May 20, 2013, near where a chase began in the 1000 block of West Central Avenue. A man who stayed at the scene, Gerardo Ayala, was shot and killed in an altercation with a police detective. Authorities have determined that the officer was justified in shooting Ayala. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Neighbors watch a police investigation of an officer-involved shooting in the 1000 block of W. Central Avenue in Santa Ana. Authorities have determined that the officer was justified in shooting Gerardo Ayala. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Investigators work a shooting scene in Santa Ana on May 20, 2013, near where a chase began in the 1000 block of West Central Avenue. A man who stayed at the scene, Gerardo Ayala, was shot and killed in an altercation with a police detective. Authorities have determined that the officer was justified in shooting Ayala. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – A detective was justified in shooting and killing a man who fought with him and tried to reach for a handgun, prosecutors have determined.

Investigators concluded that Santa Ana police detective Sergio Gutierrez acted reasonably when he shot Gerardo Ayala, 26, in a neighborhood known for gang activity on May 20, 2013, according to a letter released Monday outlining the results of an Orange County District Attorney’s Office investigation.

The shooting came after police spotted Ayala involved in what they believed was a drug deal, according to District Attorney’s investigators. Several other people involved in the suspected drug deal drove away from the neighborhood, leading to a police pursuit that ended when an innocent bystander was struck and killed by the fleeing car.

Gutierrez and his partner were searching for a man with an open warrant in a neighborhood known as “The Apple” off West Central Avenue between Bristol and Shelton streets when they spotted a Dodge Charger idling in the middle of a roadway, according to the report. Ayala was standing outside the Charger, and Gutierrez told District Attorney’s investigators that he saw what he believed to be a “hand-to-hand” transaction between Ayala and the occupants of the car.

As Gutierrez walked up to the Charger, Ayala looked at him with a “surprised expression” and moved toward a Dodge Ram that was parked nearby and moved his hands toward his waistband, the officer told investigators. Gutierrez said he believed that Ayala was either reaching for a handgun or handing a weapon off to a woman who was sitting in the truck.

Ayala ignored Gutierrez’s commands to show his hands, the officer told investigators. Meanwhile, Gutierrez’s partner had begun to pursue the occupants of the Charger, which had “accelerated rapidly” out of the neighborhood.

According to the District Attorney’s report, Ayala resisted Gutierrez as the detective tried to “gain control” of him, instead reaching for his waistband. The two struggled for several minutes, according to the report, with Ayala at one point taking a swing at Gutierrez, who eventually used a Taser in an attempt to subdue Ayala.

Gutierrez reached into Ayala’s waistband, felt what he believed was a gun and tried to pull it away, but Ayala grabbed his hand.

“Given Ayala’s determination to access that object that felt like a gun, Detective Gutierrez believed his only option was to shoot Ayala,” District Attorney’s investigators concluded.

After the shots were fired, Gutierrez told investigators that he pulled a dark-colored, semi-automatic handgun away from Ayala and threw it six or seven feet away so Ayala couldn’t reach it. The woman who had been sitting in the Ram moved toward the area where Gutierrez had thrown the gun, according to the report, then ran away.

Authorities discovered that Ayala was wearing a black holster, the report determined. He died after emergency surgery at Western Medical Center.

Two witnesses told District Attorney’s investigators that they saw a woman running in the area with what appeared to be a black handgun.

The three men who fled the scene in the Charger were caught and arrested after police say the vehicle struck and killed Andrew Reisse, co-founder of Occulus VR, an Irvine-based virtual reality company. The driver of the Charger, Victor Sanchez, is facing several felony charges, including murder and vehicular manslaughter.

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